By Transition Salt Spring – August 5, 2026
If you have looked up at a hazy sky this week or felt that familiar smell in the air, you already know. Salt Spring is in smoke season again, and it is here now.
This is not the same island many of us grew up on or moved here for. As our climate warms, fire seasons are starting earlier, lasting longer and sending smoke our way more often, even from fires burning hundreds of kilometres from here.
We cannot control the fires themselves, but we can control how we protect ourselves and each other while the smoke is here.
Smoke is more than an inconvenience. It carries tiny particles that get deep into your lungs and can affect your whole body.
Anyone can feel the effects, but babies, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with heart or lung trouble need to be extra careful right now. Salt Spring has a lot of older residents, so this matters for many of our neighbours today.
How to Tell if Smoke Is Affecting You
Watch for sore eyes, a scratchy throat, coughing, headaches, feeling short of breath, a tight chest or simply feeling more tired than usual.
If you have asthma, COPD, heart disease or diabetes, smoke can make these conditions harder to manage.
Easy Steps to Stay Safe
1. Check the air before you head out. The Air Quality Health Index tells you how smoky it is and what to do about it. Check it each morning during smoky weeks. View the Air Quality Health Index readings for Duncan.
2. Skip hard outdoor activity on smoky days. Save running, biking, hiking and yard work for clearer days.
3. Pick one clean-air room in your home. Choose a room you can close off and run an air purifier in it if you have one. This is where your household can gather when the air outside is bad.
4. Filter the air in your home. Run your forced-air furnace or HVAC system continuously on the fan or recirculation setting to filter indoor air. If a commercial air cleaner is unavailable, a DIY box-fan air cleaner can help. Learn how to build one through the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundation instructions.
5. Keep windows and doors shut. As much as possible during smoky periods, and run any air purifier or your home’s fan setting to help clear the air inside.
6. Wear a snug N95 or KN95 mask. If you must go outside. Regular cloth or surgical masks will not keep smoke out.
7. Know where to go if home is not enough. The Salt Spring Public Library is a clean-air space you can visit during heavy smoke.
8. Check on your neighbours. Older residents, people with health conditions and those living alone can use a knock on the door during smoke events.If you are not part of a neighbourhood POD yet, you can sign up through the Salt Spring Emergency Program.
One More Thing to Know
Salt Spring is an island with limited medical care close by. If smoke makes someone seriously unwell today, getting help may take longer than on the mainland.
Do not wait to see if symptoms pass. Take them seriously as soon as they start.
We did not choose a hotter, smokier world, but here we are, living in it together.
What we do get to choose is how we show up for each other while the sky is this colour.
Check the air quality today. Check on your neighbour today. That is how this island gets through smoke season, one look-out-for-each-other day at a time.
For more wildfire resources, visit Transition Salt Spring’s wildfire resources.
Photo by Doug Nealy